Clinical features of dry eye syndrome and evaluation of the effectiveness of artificial tear therapy in patients with anxiety and depression after cataract and keratorefractive surgery

Abstract

Introduction. Dry eye syndrome (DES) is a common cause of blurred vision and discomfort in patients after eye surgery, which has a great impact on the on the patients’ mental state. Evaluation of the presence of DES during the preoperative examination is important not only for obtaining a high postoperative result, but also for the timely administration of therapy in order to improve the patient's quality of life.Aim. Thus, the aim of this study was to establish the features of the clinical course of dry eye syndrome and to determine the effectiveness of ultra-high viscosity hyaluronic acid therapy in patients with anxiety and depression after cataract and keratorefractive surgery.Materials and methods. The study involved 100 patients (150 eyes). Preoperative examination included DES diagnostic and psychotesting. DES in all studied subjects was treated with ultra-high viscosity hyaluronic acid 3 times a day for 3 months after surgery in combination with topical combination of glucocorticoids, antibacterial and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which were administered within 1 week after surgery. There were no intraoperative complications in all studied cases.Results. It was found that patients with depressive and/or anxiety symptoms (46% of the subjects) had higher OSDI scores, while there were no differences in clinical and functional tests of dry eye syndrome between the studied groups. There was a significant improvement in the results of OCT meniscometry and Norn's test during therapy with ultra-high viscosity hyaluronic acid. The given clinical examples show the importance of timely diagnosis and treatment of DES.Conclusions. The study showed the importance of dry eye syndrome evaluation and timely artificial tear therapy prescribing for both to achieve a high postoperative result and to reduce the patients’ subjective discomfort and improve patients’quality of life.